The legal, moral, and ethical limits of National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) member’s $100 Million profit grab, while giving the cold shoulder to Labor, were best exemplified in a recent DSNews article by David Wharton entitled The Cost of Doing Business. Wharton’s position that it is woe is me for NAMFS members whom are pocketing the largest price hikes in the history of the Industry. And it is only made more obscene by his absolute silencing of Labor’s voice. To a point, it is understandable. Wharton is a corporate shill and the people cutting his checks — in part the very NAMFS members he is covering — wouldn’t want to have their advertisements front and center in an article which might call them on the carpet. And in full disclosure, I emailed Wharton about my concerns and buttressed my issues with federal documents. And while I am not going to truss up Wharton like the Thanksgiving turkey, I am going to drive home a singular point. While many firms do not have the corporate responsibility to ensure that Labor is receiving a piece of the price increases which were pitched, based upon them, the following firms do: Altisource, Guardian Asset Management, and ServiceLink coupled with Mortgage Contracting Services and GIS Field Services. Why these companies, you might ask? Because in the case of the former listed, they are all wholly owned subsidiaries of publicly traded companies and in the latter case of GIS and MCS, they are owned by a boutique hedge fund.
Publicly traded companies have a legal landscape that must be followed to a T and additionally, they have a responsibility to their shareholders. And when it comes to the vulture capitalists operating the funds over at Littlejohn & Co., what they DO NOT want is a higher level of scrutiny from the SEC.
We wrote a larger piece, the other day, covering the Holy Trinity of price increases at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD. And incidentally, that $100 Million in increased profit ONLY comes from HUD and is not including the other two. And no matter which way you look, the schlepping by Labor of Management’s burdons — free of charge at 75% and above Rush rates — has pretty much run its course. Let me give you a quote of one of the bombshells that Wharton published pertaining to the moving away from independent contractors into a full blown employee based setting,
Over the last 18 months, MCS has built out an extensive network of self-performing capabilities in 25 markets across the country, employing a ‘hybrid’ model that combines our own experienced employees with an expansive network of thousands of local service partners. Within these markets, our own team members are able to assist with recruiting, vetting, supporting and partnering with the local service provider network, and ensuring work is completed as specified. — Chad Mosely, MCS President
Out of everything else you read in Wharton’s article, that quote above is the bellwether statement of what I predicted only several years ago. And while it is about MCS in the above quote, it is ultimately about the Industry, as a whole. After tens of millions of dollars in employee misclassification settlements, MCS and other Prime Vendors, have begun embracing employees. Moreover, though, what is happening is that Labor is being used to do the bids and the Awards are then given to the Prime Vendor employees. This isn’t supposition. A simple perusal through these firm’s 10Q and 10K, in combination with their own advertised portfolios to investors, state as much.
And while firms like National Field Representatives and Brookstone Management — a caution here as Brookstone’s website is labeled Not Secure by Google — appear to be testing the waters with respect to paying Labor on time, for the moment, firms like Cyprexx and Safeguard Properties are doing their absolute best to strangle Labor into bankruptcy. In fact, that was the goal of Assero, formerly operated by Lee Mertins and Eduardo San Roman, whose parent company, 24 Asset Management, is a $100 Million HUD M&M FSM Awardee. Craig Karnes, HUD’s Acting Deputy Chief Procurement Officer is well aware of the nearly $1 Million in liens filed against Assero on Fannie Mae and LoanCare properties. Now, whether Karnes is pocketing the cash for a VERY Merry Christmas or simply hates the Minority Females and Labor whom are the victims here, I do not know. What I do know is that over the past decade, Karnes has personally overseen tens of millions of dollars in fraud — including the most recent Involuntary Bankruptcy of National Field Network — and done everything in his power to protect the offenders.
So, while the Whartons of the world spew their sophistry and continue to plumb the yet unseen bottom of the gutter, by alienating Labor in alleged journalism, let us all realize puff pieces for what they precisely are, this Holiday Season. Let us focus on Foreclosurepedia’s No Contractor Left Behind mission, and finally let us all begin to hold accountable those firms whom are targeting Labor for simply doing their job!
